Privacy Policy

BENDIGO PUBLISHING PTY LTD PRIVACY POLICY
Bendigo Publishing Pty Ltd understands how important it is to protect the privacy of personally identifiable information collected about those who visit our websites, subscribe to any of our products and services, purchase any of our products or who advertise with us.
Bendigo Publishing Pty Ltd is bound bylaw regarding the handling of all personal information. Where appropriate we will handle personal information relying on the media exemption (but complying with the Australian Press Council Privacy Standards), related bodies corporate exemption and the employee exemption in the Privacy Act.

Personal Information

We collect personal information when we provide our range of services to people. Generally, we will advise you as to why we are collecting information when we collect it and we will also state how we plan to use it. It may also be quite obvious when we collect the information that this will occur.
We usually collect personal information directly from you although sometimes we may use agents or service providers to do this for us. We may also acquire lists from other sources, both from other companies and from other public documents.

Use of Information

Bendigo Publishing Pty Ltd usually gathers personal information such as your name, address, telephone number, and in some instances, your financial details. When you are online, we collect information regarding the pages within our network which you visit and what you click on. As a general rule we do not collect sensitive information. However, if we do, it will usually be for the purposes of providing our goods or services, and we will seek your consent to collect such information if we are required by law to do so.
At Bendigo Publishing Pty Ltd, we use your information to provide our services (which may include the display of personalised content and advertising) to you, to fulfil administrative functions associated with these services, for example billing, to enter into contracts with you or third parties and for marketing and client relationship purposes. We or they may also use your personally identifiable information to assist us in improving our products and services and any of us might be in touch to let you know about goods, services, or promotions which may interest you.

Use by Third Parties

Bendigo Publishing Pty Ltd may disclose your information to its service providers and contractors from time to time to help us to provide and market our goods and services to you. We may also share your information with third parties who provide prizes for competitions or reader offers. If we do this we require these parties to protect your information in the same way we do.

Use of Aggregate Data

We may collect and use certain non-personal information (e.g., the identity of your Internet browser, the type of operating system you use, your IP address and the domain name of your Internet service provider) to optimise our goods and services (which may include the display of personalised content and advertising) including our web pages for your computer.
Bendigo Publishing Pty Ltd may use personally identifiable information in aggregate form to improve our goods and services including our web sites and make them more responsive to the needs of our customers. This statistical compilation and analysis of information may also be used by News or provided to others as a summary report for marketing, advertising or research purposes.

Security

Bendigo Publishing Pty Ltd is committed to ensuring the security, integrity and privacy of personally identifiable information of its customers. We use a variety of physical and electronic security measures including restricting physical access to our offices and firewalls and secure databases to keep personal information secure from misuse, loss or unauthorised use or disclosure.
Regrettably, no data transmission over the internet can be guaranteed to be totally secure.

Access to Personal Information

You have a right to access most personal information we hold about you and if we deny access in some circumstances we will tell you why.
To request access, please contact our privacy officer as set out at the end of this document.

Public Information

Any information posted on bulletin boards and/or communicated in chat areas becomes public information. While we strive to protect and respect your privacy, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you disclose in a chat room or bulletin board.

Cookies

Cookies are data that a web site transfers to an individual's hard drive for record-keeping purposes. Cookies can facilitate a user's ongoing access to and use of a site. They allow us to track usage patterns and to compile data that can help us improve our content and target advertising. If you do not want information collected through the use of Cookies, there is a simple procedure in most browsers that allows you to deny or accept the Cookie feature. But you should note that Cookies may be necessary to provide you with features such as merchandise transactions or registered services.

Online Links to Third Party and Co-Branded Sites

Bendigo Publishing Pty Ltd may establish relationships with business partners that allow visitors to our internet sites to link directly to sites operated by these partners. Some of these sites may be "co-branded" with our logo; however, these sites may not be operated or maintained by or on our behalf. These sites may collect personal information from you that may be shared with us. This Privacy Statement will apply to any personal information we obtain in this manner.
Bendigo Publishing Pty Ltd is not responsible for the content or practices of websites operated by third parties linked to our sites. These links are meant for the user's convenience only. Links to third party sites do not constitute sponsorship, endorsement or approval by us of the content, policies or practices of those third party sites. Once you have left our site via such a link, you should check the applicable privacy policy of the third party site.

What else you should know about privacy on the Internet

Remember to close your browser when you have finished your user session. This is to ensure others cannot access your personal information and correspondence if you share a computer with someone else or are using a computer in a public place like a library or internet cafe. You are responsible for the security of, and access to, your own computer.
Please note, if you post personal information in publicly accessible online forums, you may receive unsolicited messages from other parties in return. Ultimately, you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your username and passwords and any account information. Please be careful and responsible whenever you are using the internet.

For further information

Please contact our privacy officer to ask for access to your information or if you have a complaint concerning your information privacy or if you would like more information about Bendigo Publishing Pty Ltd and our approach to privacy.
Privacy Officer
Bendigo Publishing Pty Ltd
PO Box 324
BENDIGO 3552